Barry Yelverton, 1st Viscount Avonmore

Barry Yelverton, 1st Viscount Avonmore, PC (Ire) KC (28 May 1736 – 19 August 1805) was an Irish judge and politician, who gave his name to Yelverton's Act 1782, which effectively repealed Poynings' Law and thus restored the independence of the Parliament of Ireland. This achievement was entirely destroyed by the Act of Union 1800, which Yelverton supported. By doing so, he gravely harmed his own reputation for integrity, which had already been damaged by his leading role in the conviction and execution for treason of the United Irishman William Orr, now seen as a major miscarriage of justice.

He was the eldest son of Francis Yelverton of Kanturk, County Cork, and Elizabeth Barry of Kilbrin (now Ballyclogh, County Cork) He went to school in Charleville and attended Trinity College Dublin, where he took a degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1757 and of Bachelor of Laws in 1761. His family lacked wealth and social position and he was for some years an assistant master under Andrew Buck in the Hibernian Academy.

In 1761, he married Mary Nugent (died 1802) of Clonlost, County Westmeath, a lady of some fortune, and was thus enabled to read for the Irish Bar, entering the Middle Temple.

He was called to the Bar in 1764: despite his lack of family connections his success in his profession was rapid, due to his legal ability, charm and remarkable eloquence, and he took silk eight years afterwards.

He was returned to the Irish House of Commons as member for Donegal Borough from 1774 to 1776. In that year, Yelverton was elected for Belfast and Carrickfergus. He chose to sit for the latter and represented the constituency until 1784. Although few examples of his oratory survive, all contemporaries agree on his eloquence, which gave him a dominant position in the Commons.

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